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FIRST LOOK: BIPARTISAN GROUP WANTS PRESIDENTIAL PARDON FOR BOXING CHAMP – Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mo Cowan (D-Mass.), and Representative Peter King (R-N.Y.), will re-introduce a resolution today to pardon the first African American heavyweight boxing champion, John Arthur “Jack” Johnson. The legislation calls on President Obama to posthumously pardon the boxing legend, who was wronged with a racially motivated conviction in 1913 under the Mann Act, which prohibited taking women across state lines for “immoral purposes.” McCain and King have been fighting for the pardon since 2004, and Obama just last week granted 17 pardons to convicted felons.

“In past years, both chambers of Congress unanimously passed this resolution, but unfortunately, it still awaits executive action and no pardon has been issued,” McCain said in a statement. “We can never completely right the wrong perpetrated against Jack Johnson during his lifetime, but this pardon is a small, meaningful step toward acknowledging his mistreatment before the law and celebrating his legacy of athletic greatness and historical significance.”

RYAN FLOATS CHANGE TO MEDICARE – Jake Sherman and Jonathan Allen report for the hometown paper: “Paul Ryan’s budget will show how Republicans can balance a budget that’s trillions of dollars out of whack. But the most significant unresolved issue comes down to a minuscule number: one year. Ryan — the House Budget Committee chairman — has privately been floating the idea of allowing his changes to Medicare to kick in for Americans younger than 56. In previous budgets, those 55 and older were exempted from his plan to turn Medicare into a premium-support — or voucher — program. It might not seem like much of a distinction — and it doesn’t help Republicans achieve their stated goal of balancing the budget in 10 years. But it has sharp political teeth.

-- “Republicans have been arguing for two years that their plans wouldn’t affect Medicare coverage for anyone older than 54, and Democrats will surely pounce on any change as Republicans breaking faith with their own pledge to seniors. … Ryan, according to Republicans familiar with his pitch, wants to take a stand on a program they say doesn’t have a future for the next generation of retirees if major reforms aren’t made soon. If the GOP gradually makes the argument to change the program incrementally, they hope the public will begin to accept it. … The Wisconsin Republican plans to roll out the outlines of his budget Wednesday in a pen-and-pad session with reporters, and the age issue is one of only a handful of unresolved questions remaining.” http://politi.co/YKCLW9

-- Democrats sharply criticized Ryan's proposal during the 2012 campaign and now argue that voters rejected his approach when they reelected Obama, The L.A. Times’ Lisa Mascaro and Michael A. Memoli wrote over the weekend. “Even some Republicans who support Ryan's proposal are wary. ‘Is it going to be difficult? It's the third rail. Sparks are coming off before you even touch it,’ said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) as he showed a photo of his grandchildren on his smartphone last week. ‘I want them to say: Grandpa tried.’” http://lat.ms/13DS7DZ

Washington Post, A1, 1-col., “GOP fears fallout of cuts: SEQUESTER WAS ONLY FIRST STEP: Health, retirement benefits now at issue,” By Lori Montgomery.http://wapo.st/165wMTg

MURRAY TRIES TO UNITE DEMS ON BUDGET – Manu Raju reports for POLITICO: “The talking point is on the tip of virtually every Republican’s tongue in the Capitol: Democrats have failed to pass a budget resolution in the Senate for more than 1,400 days. Sen. Patty Murray is trying to end that, but it hasn’t been easy. Heading into a decisive week of private meetings with fellow Democrats, the new Budget Committee chairwoman is trying to thread the needle between red-state senators who want deeper spending cuts and liberals worried about cutting too much into entitlement programs like Medicare. The Washington Democrat also has enlisted a team of aides to defend her plan while attacking the GOP proposal coming from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

-- “Murray’s plan is still being developed, but it could be split 50-50 between spending cuts and new taxes, with some Democratic senators on the panel pushing for tax increases upward of $1 trillion, according to people familiar with the matter. It is also widely expected to include fast-track procedures to overhaul the Tax Code despite resistance from the powerful Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who has privately expressed strong objections to such an approach. …

-- “[If] the 113th Congress is to get a handle on the growing national debt … it could fall on the shoulders of Murray and Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, to iron out a compromise between their competing proposals. Such an accord could presumably pave the way for a grand bargain deal that has eluded Capitol Hill for years.” http://politi.co/13DhYMw

WHO’S OBAMA COURTING? – Peter Nicholas and Janet Hook have more on which Republicans Obama has been placing calls to in order to get a budget deal with revenue increases: “Since Saturday, Mr. Obama has placed calls to several lawmakers, including Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Bob Corker of Tennessee. The calls came after Mr. Obama and congressional leaders failed to reach a deal to avert or replace across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, that began Friday.” http://on.wsj.com/13E0vDE

ESCORT NOW SAYS MENENDEZ PROSTITUTION CLAIMS WERE FABRICATED -- Carol D. Leonnig and Ernesto Londoño report on A3 of The Washington Post: “An escort who appeared on a video claiming that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican authorities that she was instead paid to make up the claims and has never met or seen the senator, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim. The woman said a local lawyer had approached her and a fellow escort and asked them to help frame Menendez and a top donor, Salomon Melgen, according to affidavits obtained by The Washington Post. That lawyer has in turn identified a second Dominican lawyer who he said gave the woman a script and paid her to read the claims aloud. The first lawyer said he found out only later that the remarks would be videotaped and used against Menendez, the affidavits say.

-- “The claims of two women that they had had sex with Menendez seemed to confirm a tipster’s allegations that Menendez had patronized prostitutes while vacationing in the Dominican Republic. The tipster, who last spring began e-mailing allegations to a government watchdog group and the FBI, said he had evidence that Menendez had relations with underage prostitutes and participated in sex parties arranged by Melgen, his friend and political backer. FBI agents conducting interviews in the Dominican Republic have found no evidence to back up the tipster’s allegations, according to two people briefed on their work. Menendez has denied the prostitution claims, saying they were made by enemies trying to undermine him as he sought reelection in the fall and became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this year. …

-- “The videotaped claims of two women, made with their faces obscured, were posted on the conservative Web site the Daily Caller. … Daily Caller Editor Tucker Carlson did not reply to phone calls and e-mails requesting comment.” http://wapo.st/YskKiB

U.S. SOCCER FOUNDATION, POLITICO TEAM UP FOR 1st CAPITAL SOCCER CLASSIC -- The U.S. Soccer Foundation, the major charitable arm of soccer in the United States, and POLITICO, will announce today their partnership for the inaugural Capital Soccer Classic to be held in Washington on April 24. Presented by Johnson & Johnson, the event will include a youth clinic as well as a series of games featuring members of Congress, including the bipartisan Congressional Soccer Caucus; government officials; media celebrities; and former U.S. Soccer players, including John Harkes, Cobi Jones, Eddie Pope, Claudio Reyna and Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak. The charity event benefits Soccer for Success, the Foundation’s free soccer-based afterschool program that uses soccer as a tool to combat childhood obesity and promote healthy lifestyles for children in under-resourced urban communities. The classic will be held at Gallaudet University and is free and open to the public. For information on registering for the youth clinic or participating in the games, please visit www.POLITICO.com/events.

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GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 5, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include @TaraDiJulio and @MarkAmodeiNV2.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate is in at 10 a.m. and at 11:45 a.m. will proceed to a resolution authorizing expenditures by Committees of the Senate through September 2013. At 12:15 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a Rand Paul amendment, striking provisions relative to the National Security Working Group. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. for party caucus lunches.

The House also is in at 10 a.m. with first and last votes between 2 and 3 p.m. The House will consider under suspension of the rules a resolution to require that the president’s annual budget submissions to Congress provide an estimate of the cost per taxpayer of the deficit, and the Stop Tobacco Smuggling in the Territories Act.

AROUND THE HILL – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Assistant Leader James Clyburn and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack address the National Association of Counties Annual Legislative Conference at 8:30 a.m. at the Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave. NW. Sen. Sherrod Brown, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, and former FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair take part in a Are Financial Institutions Still 'Too Big to Fail'? panel at 9:30 a.m. at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, 1750 Massachusetts Ave., NW.

Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders hold a post-conference media availability at 10 a.m. in the HC-8. Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra and Vice Chairman Joe Crowley hold a post-media availability on sequestration in the HVC 210 alcove.

SENATORS REACH DEAL ON GUN TRAFFICKING BILL – John Bresnahan and Reid Epstein report for POLITICO: “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy unveiled a new bipartisan proposal on gun trafficking on Monday, the Vermont Democrat’s office announced. The legislation, sought by big-city mayors and sponsored by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), will also have support from Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), giving it bipartisan cover other gun-control proposals lack. The trafficking bill is considered easier to pass than universal background checks, where the central legislative action on gun control in the Senate remains focused. … The Judiciary Committee will hold a markup Thursday in which Leahy’s measure will be considered, along with an assault weapons ban amendment to be offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).” http://politi.co/13CH8dX

OBAMA FACES RISKS HIGHLIGHTING IMPACTS OF CUTS – Michael D. Shear writes in the New York Times: “As the nation’s top Democrat, President Obama has a clear imperative: to ratchet up pressure on Republicans for across-the-board spending cuts by using the power of his office to dramatize the impact on families, businesses and the military. But as president, Mr. Obama is charged with minimizing the damage from the spending reductions and must steer clear of talking down the economy. A sustained campaign against the cuts by the president could become what one former aide called ‘a self-fulfilling kind of mess.’ As a result, Mr. Obama is carefully navigating between maximizing heat on Republicans to undo the cuts while mobilizing efforts to make sure that the steep spending cuts do not hurt Americans. His advisers acknowledge the potential political perils ahead as the president struggles to find the right kind of balance.” http://nyti.ms/ZkNqZS

-- TSA said air travelers have not faced significant delays from the sequester, even though Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at Monday’s Playbook Breakfast waits are now “150 to 200 percent as long as we would normally expect.” Burgess Everett and Adam Snider have more for POLITICO: http://politi.co/Wrb1Mc

GOP LAUNCHES PREEMPTIVE STRIKE AGAINST JUDD – Lois Romano reports for POLITICO: “She’s not even a candidate yet. But the GOP opposition research machine is already in full froth over what it views as perhaps the juiciest 2014 target: Ashley Judd, who is exploring a challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Republicans are homing in with glee on the actress and activist, picking apart her views and statements and compiling a thick compendium of speeches, writings and tweets. What they found: Judd may not have a legislative record, but she has left quite a paper trail. This early opposition research effort seems as much about scaring Democrats nationally about a Judd candidacy as informing Kentuckians before Judd even decides to make the race. …

-- “In a disjointed talk at George Washington University Friday, Judd, 44, may have given her opponents more fodder by referencing U2 rocker Bono, her dog being on a hunger strike and her extravagant travels. “We winter in Scotland. We’re smart like that,” she told students. … [T]here’s some evidence the GOP effort is hitting its target in portraying her as an Hollywood elitist. In addition to her liberal positions on social issues, Judd’s anti-coal stance in a coal-mining state has gotten wide attention. … Noted a McConnell campaign adviser, who asked not to be named: ‘We truly believe that if she were to run, her candidacy would have the capacity to be the liberal Democrat version of Todd Akin for the rest of the Democratic candidates running in ’14.’” http://politi.co/12qHHYU

COLBERT’S SISTER AN UNDERDOG BUT WORTH WATCHING – Stu Rothenberg writes for Roll Call: “Elizabeth Colbert Busch hopes to win a special election for Congress this year. That’s possible but also unlikely, as it would take something close to a political ‘perfect storm’ for the Democrat to win the reliably Republican House seat in South Carolina. Of course, you wouldn’t know that from all the ink she has received. She is, after all, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, who has generated plenty of attention for the Charleston-based businesswoman, no matter how uphill her challenge. Political reporters, you see, love celebrities, and that includes relatives of celebrities. … Colbert Busch seems personable and isn’t saddled with an extensive legislative record to defend. Her assets include few obvious liabilities (so far): the ability to portray herself as a businesswoman and political outsider, and the potential ability to put together a well-funded campaign. Those qualities, plus the possibility of a damaged GOP nominee and a divided Republican Party, are reason enough to watch the race.” http://bit.ly/XTGIZt

MONDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – George Forgie was first to correctly answer that President John Quincy Adams died in the room that is now the Lindy Boggs Women’s Reading Room in the House, though he was not president at the time.

TODAY’S TRIVIA –Jennifer Manning has today’s question: Which U.S. senator(s) won the Nobel Peace Prize while serving in the Senate? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/

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